Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Pandora - My Find of the Day

 I recently found Pandora, the free internet music service that lets you choose what kind of music you want to hear.   If you haven't tried it yet,  go to http://www.pandora.com/   to check it out. 

My selections so far are the Beatles, Cher, and Native American.  Definitely Retiree-wannabe selections.   But they seem to have music for every mood and taste.  So if you're into heavy metal or rap, go for it.   Meanwhile, I will rock with the Oldies or meditate with the Navajo. 

Saturday, June 19, 2010

3 Coyote Day

This coyote was behind our water feature a few years ago.


I always start off my weekend with an early morning walk with my friend Chris.  We are both early risers, which helps in the Arizona heat.   Our usual route is to go down a couple of  blocks and walk parallel to the golf course, cross the street and go down a long block to the walking trail.  Then we follow the trail to Mountain View, one of the main streets in Sun City Grand, until we reach a street that goes close to mine, turn and walk back to my house.   The entire route takes us about 45 minutes.

Today we had a special treat--Coyotes!!!   I love the little guys.   Chris spotted them first as they walked in the wash that runs next to the trail.   As soon as one of them spotted us, it ducked under a bush.   The other one ignored us and walked down through the middle of the wash like we weren´t there.   I concentrated so much on him that I lost sight of the other one.   By the time I tried to find him, it was too late.  He was hiding in plain sight among the bushes.

Later that night Kent and I went for a walk along the same trail.  We always wait for the heat of the day to leave, at least as much as it is going to do.  We take off around 7:30ish, while it is still light but fading fast.   By the time we reach the middle of the walking trail it is dark.  

We were at that mid-point mark on the trail when Kent heard a noise behind us.  He turned to see a coyote cross the trail behind us and lay down in the shadows of a bush.   It was too dark to make out where he was exactly, but we knew he had not jumped the little wall that divides the trail from the houses.   We stopped and waited for a few mintues but he never moved from his shadow spot.    He was near the place where I had seen two coyotes earlier in the morning, and I wondered if he was one of them that had hung around all day.   Feasting, I´m sure, on a bunny or two.

The morning coyotes were in great shape.   They were the first ones I have seen here for a while.   I have been hearing them at night, but not seeing any.   So it was great to have a 3 coyote day.

What a great way to start the weekend.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Refreshing Rain


Today was cool and refreshing--a real change from our usual
 hot, hot, hot.
The day started with clouds that kept building and building.  Soon we heard the rumble of thunder.  We thought the rain would miss us since it frequently does.  But today we were lucky.  A breeze came up that was cool and refreshing.   Soon there were large drops of rain on the sidewalk.
The rain didn´t last long, but it was enough to give the plants a quick drink and wash the dust off.
Tonight we were able to light candles and sit on the patio.  We didn´t roast marshmallows or put a fire in the chiminea.  It wasn´t that cool.  But it was nice enough to sit and chat outside.  We plan to keep the windows open tonight, too.  Can´t do that very often this time of year so we are taking advantage of it while we can. 
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Saturday, June 5, 2010

Beautiful Ohio



We went back to Ohio recently to visit family, and that includes visiting my grandpuppy Kenu. He´s a beautiful Alaskan Malamute-- 130 pounds of puppy love.
Of course he has beautiful parents, my son and daughter-in-law.

We had a great time at their Memorial Day picnic. In fact, I was enjoying visiting with friends and relatives so much that I failed to take photos.

It was perfect picnic weather--sunny and hot. Later a brief Ohio shower cooled things down but didn´t keep us from going back outside as soon as it passed. We don´t have those here in Arizona this time of the year. We also enjoyed seeing the bright green foilage everywhere. They have had a lot of rain this year, and everything was lush and blooming.

While we were there, we celebrated my mother´s 95th birthday. WoW! Way to go, Mother! This isn´t a milestone that many of us will reach. She had to go to the doctor on her birthday, which was a bummer, but she was a good sport about it. Later we had a small celebration with family, pizza, and chocolate cake. Mother´s memory isn´t good these days, but she enjoyed the moment. Which, when you think about it, is what we all should try to do.

One of my favorite things to do when we go back to Ohio is visit Marco´s Paper. This is the greatest paper (and more) store in the world. If you like any kind of papercrafts, you need to stop in and see them. They are on the web, but I love the store best. There is nothing quite so much fun as looking at all the neat paper, stamps, pens, charms, inks, etc, and dreaming of all the great things that could be made....if only there were more hours in the day. The bane of crafters and writers everywhere is the lack of time. And when the crafter/writer has to be a working stiff too, it is terrible!

So while I was at Marco´s I bought some cover stock to back the rest of my Yellowstone photos, and some album paper that was on sale. Pinecones, ivy and some coordinating colors. The pinecones will be used soon to finish off the Yellowstone album, but the others may go into the paper stash. (You can never have enough paper.) Also found some great cowgirl rubber stamps that were new, must-have items. Then I found some had-to-have ink and a couple of more sale items.... Everytime I go to the store I suggest that they open a store in Arizona. But considering my inability to pass up their bargains, perhaps I couldn´t afford for them to be here!!

We also stopped at the Cox Arboretum for a quick visit one afternoon. This is the Monet Pond, a lovely tranquil spot. There were a couple of weddings that day, too. The turtles were sunning themselves, and birds were singing. Beautiful Ohio.



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